Lightning News

07/02/2009 - 2:53pm

The Tampa Bay Lightning have released their final roster for their Young Guns Prospect Camp scheduled for July 8-15 at the St. Pete Times Forum. The camp includes a prospect scrimmage on July 11 at 7pm that is open and free to the public and will include autograph sessions by the prospects and newly signed Lightning defensemen Mattias Ohlund and Matt Walker.

The camp roster includes the following Bolt prospects and non-organizational invitees:

Goaltenders: Dustin Tokarski, Riku Helenius, Jaroslav Janus, Bryan Mountain, and Michael Zador

Defensemen: Mark Barberio, Erik Gustafsson, Victor Hedman, Scott Jackson, Vladimir Mihalik, Kevin Quick, Ty Wishart, and Luke Witkowski

Forwards: Carter Ashton, Kyle DeCoste, Mitch Fadden, Tommy Grant, Alex Hutchings, Alex Killorn, Chris Lawrence, Matt Marshall, Matt Read, Juraj Simek, Dana Tyrell, and James Wright

Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune is reporting [2] that six players originally scheduled to attend the camp have been omitted from the final roster and includes forwards Johan Harju, Justin Courtnall, Denis Kazionov, Dmitri Kazionov, Paul Szczechura, and Steve Downie.

Tampa Re-ups Lukas Krajicek [3]

07/01/2009 - 4:20pm

The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed defenseman Lukas Krajicek to a one-year contract today, Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Lawton announced. Terms of the restricted free agent's deal was not released, but Lawton indicated during the NHL Entry Draft in Montreal last weekend that the sides were close on a deal. The Lightning acquired Krajicek with Juraj Simek from Vancouver in exchange for Shane O’Brien and Michel Ouellet on October 6, 2008.

“Lukas is one of the elite skating defensemen in the NHL and he played admirably for us last season in a difficult blueline situation,” said Lawton. “We are pleased to sign him for the 2009-10 season and we look forward to seeing for training camp.”

Krajicek, a 6-foot-2, 196-pound native of Prostejov, Czech Republic, played in 71 games with the Lightning last season, recording two goals and 19 points. He led all Tampa Bay defensemen in assists and points while also ranking second in blocked shots with 90. His 71 games played were the second-most played during a season in his career. In 2008-09 Krajicek established career highs for assists, points and average ice time with 19:37.

Bolts Bolster Defense with Matt Walker [4]

07/01/2009 - 3:42pm

Further bolstering their defensive corps via free agency, the Lightning have signed stay-at-home veteran backliner Matt Walker. Walker played one year for the Chicago Blackhawks last season after spending 8 years in the St. Louis Blues organization. Walker has 2 goals, 23 assists, and 354 penalty minutes in 240 career NHL games.

“Matt [Walker] is the big, physical, intimidating presence that we lacked on the blue line last season,” said Lawton upon making the announcement today. “He is a high-character, team-first player and he demonstrated that last season, going right back in a playoff game after suffering an ugly, ugly broken finger. He is just the type of player that we were looking for to fill a specific defensive need.”

Lightning Sign Veteran Blueliner Mattias Ohlund [5]

07/01/2009 - 3:43pm

TSN.ca is reporting [6] that the Tampa Bay Lightning have struck first in this year's NHL free agency by signing free agent veteran Swedish defenseman Mattias Ohlund to a 7-year, $26.5M contract. A Swedish-born veteran defenseman seems like the perfect fit for a team that not only struggled last season without a veteran presence on the blueline, but also just drafted Swedish defensive phenom Victor Hedman.

“We are thrilled Mattias [Ohlund] elected to sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning today,” said Lawton upon making the announcement. “With so many options in front of him, having him elect to play in Tampa demonstrates the faith he has in our team’s strategy and vision for success, which should be exciting for our fans. This signing accomplished two primary goals for us. First, we have added the top-two defenseman we coveted to lead our blue line and second, we have found a leader and a mentor for Victor Hedman as he prepares to play in the NHL this fall.”

Ohlund is a 12 year veteran of the Vancouver Canucks, drafted by the Vancouver 13th overall in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. In 770 career regular season games, Ohlund has 93 goals and 232 assists for 325 points. He the leads the franchise all-time for defencemen in goals and points.

Keller, McKenna Not Qualified [7]

06/29/2009 - 1:33pm

According to Damian Cristodero of the St. Pete Times [8], the Tampa Bay Lightning have chosen not to qualify restricted free agents forward Justin Keller and goaltender Mike McKenna.

Players receiving qualifying offers were defensemen Lukas Krajicek, Matt Smaby, Matt Lashoff and Mike Lundin; forwards Martins Karsums, Blair Jones, Radek Smolenak and Lauri Tukonen; and goaltender Karri Ramo. Both Smolenak and Ramo have signed contracts to play in the KHL next season.

Seventh Round, 183rd Overall [9]

06/27/2009 - 12:19pm

Name: Kirill Gotovets
Postion: D
Height: 5.11
Weight: 175 lbs
Shoots: Left
Club: Shattuck St. Mary's (USHS)
Rankings: CSS-179 (North American Skater) Red Line- 123
Statistics: Shattuck (USHS), 50 GP, 6-23-29, 66 PIM

The Koules family's connection to Shattuck St. Mary's strikes late as the Lightning have selected smallish puckmoving defenseman Kirill Gotovets. The Belarussian born defenseman has committed to play for Cornell of the ECACHL and has international experience with the Belarussian junior team. He's a good skater who might be suffering from NHL teams' new fears surrounding losing players to the KHL. Gotovets' KHL rights are held by his hometown club Dynamo Minsk. If Gotovets bypasses Cornell, for some reason, the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL hold his rights.

Money quote from Red Line Report: "Smallish, finesse rearguard is a fine puck mover."

Sixth Round, 162nd Overall [10]

06/27/2009 - 11:59am

Name: Jaroslav Janus
Position: G
Height: 5.11
Weight: 192 lbs
Catches: Left
Club: Erie (OHL)
Rankings: CSS- 13 (North American Goaltenders), Red Line- 103
Statistics: Erie (OHL), 49 GP, 25-20-3-1, 3 SO, 3.24 GAA, .908 sv%

The Lightning continue to add more organizational depth in net by selecting Jaroslav Janus, who was passed over in last year's draft. The Slovakian born netminder rose based on his work for the national team at the World Junior Championships, where he was named the best goaltender in the tournament. He's an athletic reflex goaltender who is very competitive, and has good rebound control. The knocks on Janus are that he doesn't play his angles well consistently and he does not have a good glove hand. Red Line projects him as a goaltender who will be a number three type in the organization and compares his style to that of Cristobal Huet or Jaroslav Halak. Because he's an overage prospect, he might find his way into the minor league for the system before Zador.

Money quote from Red Line: "Not a sure thing but we really love his competitiveness."

Fifth Round, 148th Overall [11]

06/27/2009 - 11:37am

The Lightning traded next year's 5th round pick to acquire pick 148 in the 5th round.

Name: Michael Zador
Position: G
Height: 6.02
Weight: 172 lbs
Catches: Left
Club: Oshawa (OHL)
Rankings: CSS- 10 (North American Goaltenders), Red Line- 220, THN (NR)
Statistics: London/Oshawa (OHL), 28 GP, 11-13-0-1, 0 SO, 3.65 GAA, .897 sv%

The Lightning grabbed the project goaltender we thought they might get by selecting Oshawa's Michael Zador. He was selected in the 1st round of the OHL Priority Draft in 2007 and has good size and plays an efficient, butterfly style. He plays with an economy of motion but needs to get technically more sound, particularly with his angles and rebound control. He'll play two more years in junior and the Lightning will see what they have.

Fourth Round, 93rd Overall [12]

06/27/2009 - 10:46am

Name: Alex Hutchings
Position: C/RW
Height: 5.10
Weight: 173 lbs
Club: Barrie (OHL)
Shoots: Right
Rankings: CSS- 44(North American Skater), Red Line- 43, THN- 48, TSN- 58
Statistics: Barrie (OHL), 63 GP, 34-34-68, 60 PIM

Thievery. That's how we feel about getting Alex Hutchings in the fourth round. Pure thievery. We wouldn't have blinked if the Lightning took him in the second round, so the fact he's slipped this far is very exciting. Hutchings is one of the best skaters in the OHL and he is intelligent with a high motor. He plays in all phases of the game, and for a little guy he's surprisingly willing to get his nose dirty along the wall. Hutchings has scoring line upside, and unlike Panik, he plays an honest enough game that he can also play on your lower lines if you need him to. Bottom line: the Lightning got a hockey player. Red Line compares Hutchings to Chris Kunitz.

Money quote from Brian Lawton tweeting from the draft, "Our Dir. of Amateur Scouting Jim Hammett was so excited about getting Hutchings he started drinking my pop on accident." If we were there, we'd be drinking Lawton's pop too.

Update:
Bonus money quote from Red Line, which rates Hutchings as the 14th most underrated prospect in this draft: "Skates well, scores a bunch of goals, plays hard, and sound in his own end. Yet no one seems to take much notice." In addition, Red Line ranks Hutchings as having the 12th best hockey sense in this draft class. Victor Hedman, incidentally, was 2nd.

Second Round, 52nd Overall [13]

06/27/2009 - 10:10am

Name: Richard Panik
Position: RW/C
Height: 6.02
Weight: 203 lbs
Club: Trinec (CZE)
Shoots: Left
Rankings: CSS- 13 (European Skater), Red Line- 60, THN- 31, TSN- 38
Statistics: Trinec J-20 (CZE J-20), 16 GP, 10-9-19, 36 PIM
Havirov (CZE2), 3 GP, 2-1-3, 0 PIM
Trinec (CZE), 15 GP, 1-1-2, 4 PIM

The Lightning took a tremendous swing for the fences with high risk, high reward forward Richard Panik from Slovakia by way of the Czech Republic. In terms of raw skills and athleticism, he has first round talent. He has great outside speed and a sharp snap shot with great playmaking abilities too. He's also very strong on his stick and is a tank when he brings his battle level up. The problem with Panik is that there are big questions about his attitude and his work ethic, and he's been criticized for allowing himself to get out of shape too. Red Line Report projects him as either a second line scorer in the NHL or a total bust, with upside to be like Marian Hossa. There's no safety net with Panik, though.

The money quote on Panik from Red Line, "Excellent size/skills combination - on talent alone he'd be first round material." Let's hope he gets his head on straight. The Windsor Spitfires of the OHL hold his Import Draft rights and Brian Lawton just tweeted he will play in North America next season.